The California Road Charge Pilot will be the nation's second road usage charge program. Unlike OReGO, which launched last July, it is a pilot program that will last nine months, but like the Oregon program, it is restricted to 5,000 volunteers.

Yes, vehicles have become more fuel efficient, but a just-released report by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy shows that inflation is 3.5 times more responsible for the decline in the purchasing power of the gas tax.

Oregon may end its low carbon fuel standard, one of two in the nation, to increase the gas tax by four cents and implement a bevy of clean fuel alternatives to replace the three-month-old clean fuels program.

A Hummer weighs 2.6 times more than a Prius C, so it must contribute that much more to road wear, right? Actually, that's wrong, not even close. To understand the main cause of road wear, one must look at heavy, not light trucks.

Ben Adler of Grist makes a convincing case of why we should stick with gas taxes and not switch to a road usage charge, as Oregon will do July 1 in a limited program. Tax what you burn, not by how much you drive, he argues, to get the best results.

Business providers have been chosen; the website is operating with a calculator and awaiting 5,000 participants to register. But is the 1.5 cent per mile flat rate an inherent flaw of the OReGO road usage charge program?

"The road usage charge is the logical evolution in the way we fund surface transportation," stated Patrick Jones, Executive Director of the International Bridge, Tunnel and Turnpike Association at their annual transportation conference in Portland.

Transportation finance and road usage charging are the themes of the International Bridge, Tunnel and Turnpike Association's annual conference held in Portland from April 26 to 28 in downtown Portland. Oregon's road usage charge begins July 1.

Oregon's much heralded mileage fee program, known as OReGO, has selected the technology to record the miles driven by participants. A French and Canadian company will collaborate to provide a telematics road usage charging framework to begin July 1.

California's mileage fee pilot program legislation is now law. Dan Weikel of the Los Angeles Times raises two concerns drivers have regarding the switch to a mileage-based fee from a gas tax: privacy and fairness.

Based on a comparison to a list of federal revenue options to make the Highway Trust Fund sustainable, one stands out far above the others—a mileage-based user fee which, surprisingly, is also one of its disadvantages, writes Eric Jaffe of CityLab.

A new transportation funding option proposed by Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) would repeal the 18.4-cent gas tax, unchanged since 1993, with a "small" tax levied against oil companies on each barrel of oil used to make gasoline.

The auto fleet is becoming greener - not just with hybrids and electric vehicles, but all new vehicles are required to be more fuel efficient. While that is good for the environment, declining gas tax revenues threaten the nation's infrastructure.

State DOTs generally have not been viewed as the most progressive forces in transportation, often perceived primarily as road builders. So a recent "challenge" to drive less, if only for 12 days, came as a surprise. But hey, it's Oregon!

With Oregon set to implement their vehicle-miles-traveled (VMT) fee program, Streetsblog's Tanya Snyder provides answers to ten questions, including the privacy challenge, that she posed to ODOT’s Jim Whitty, architect of the program.

If Gov. John Kitzhaber signs SB 810, as expected, Oregon will create a voluntary program for up to 5,000 motorists who will pay 1.5-cents for every mile they drive instead of the 30-cent state fuel excise tax.

A 2.7% increase on Ohio Turnpike Tolls and the new bonds that revenue will generate will not be enough to repair Ohio's aging road and bridge network, so a task force will recommend strategies - one of which must be elimination of the gas excise tax.

State departments of transportation aren't known for being the most progressive public agencies. But, in response to economic and demographic changes, Oregon's DOT (ODOT) is breaking the mold by embracing a multimodal transformation.

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